Links of Hyrule
by TheSilverTriforce
Summary: When Zelda is pulled to another world by a black vortex, Link is forced to go after her to another demention, where he meets a mysterious person who looks just like him! The two must team up to save Zelda, and Hyrule!
1. Chapter 1

_**HAI! It's Silver AGAIN! I finally got up this Zelda fanfic I've been talking about. I was just like, "I need to post this, I need to post this." And I finally got around to it! w  
**__**This IS my first Zelda fanfic, and it's a twisted retelling of TP and ST. (You'l see what I mean later.) ANY CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS APPRECIATED AS LONG AS YOU ARE NOT RUDE.**_

Anyways, I'd like to thank all of you for all the great reviews on my Soul Eater stories, and thanks for favoriting/following me! I appreciate it! 

_**Dedicated to all the Zelda fans out there, and Nintendo! Thanks!**_

It was almost three years since Link had beaten Malladus, King of Demons. Three years since Zelda had regained her body. Three years free of threat. Link had felt peace over that span of time. Link was only eleven years old when he felled the King of Demons with the help of Zelda and the Lokomo sword. Bathed in the holy light of the benevolent spirits, it smote Malladus's shadow.

The events that followed immediately after brought him closer to the Princess of Hyrule. Link had accepted her offer as part of the castle guard, being the youngest to ever become a high-rank knight. (For real this time; Link had disguised himself as a recruit during his adventure.) Training since then, he was now a model of a knight; every recruit and soldier alike looked up to the rambunctious youth.

To try to get away from the rather annoying attention he was receiving from all of the recruits, Link jumped from the top of the castle wall and ran through Castle Town, ignoring the calls from the inhabitants of the city as he passed them. He climbed down from the ledge of the train station and dashed into the open plains of the Forest Realm.

_That was a close one._ Link thought irritably, _Goddesses know how long I would've had to listen to that yammering!_ He sat down underneath an oak tree and ran his fingers through his golden blonde hair. He'd done quite a lot of running to get away from the recruits, so naturally he was exhausted. Link leaned back against the tree and fell asleep.

He dreamed of Zelda, her hair whipping every which way in the wind as he drove his mentor's train around the Ocean Realm. She giggled behind him. He glanced back at her. She was looking out the window of the engine room. He grinned. "We should be coming up to our destination soon, Princess." Zelda pulled her head inside and faced toward her companion.

Link was taking her swimming at Papuchia Village, as he had promised to do so during their adventure. Zelda was wearing a bright pink swimming suit, a sky blue sarong hanging about her waist. Link was wearing a pair of light green swim shorts. As the ocean side town came into view, Link pulled the brake lever.

Suddenly, he heard an angered whinny. "Hey… did you hear that?" Link inquired. Zelda gave him a perplexed look and asked, "Do you mean the waves?" Link shook his head. "No. It sounded like a horse." The whinny sounded again, this time followed by thundering of hooves. Link woke with a start.

Link quickly jumped to his feet, witnessing seven bokoblins riding boars chasing a handsome black stallion. The horse had dark grey hair making up his tail and mane, and covering up his hooves was white hair. The black of the horse's head faded to the same white color on his nose and mouth, and the top of his snout.

One of the bokoblins took a potshot at the horse's flank. The terrified stallion screamed as a volley of arrows buried themselves in the ground near his thudding hooves. Link pulled out his whip and lashed out at the nearest bokoblin, yanking it off its mount before slaying it with his sword. He leaped up on top of the next bokoblin's boar and threw it off, the impact of its hard fall to the ground killing it.

Link kicked the beast's sides, picking up speed in order to catch up to the other bokoblins. He rammed his boar into two others and vaulted off of the beast before all three tumbled over their own four legs, destroying their riders with them. Link rolled as he landed, and picked off the other three with his bow.

The horse looked back and saw Link, who was watching him run off in the opposite direction. He kept running, probably because he thought Link a threat. He turned his head back again and slowed his gallop to a stop. He trotted over to Link in curiosity. He sniffed him, circling around the blonde-haired boy in interest.

Satisfied that Link was not a threat, the mysterious stallion nuzzled him. Link laughed, as this was the most hilarious animal behavior, as well as the most adorable. "Where did you come from?" He asked him. The horse nickered and turned his muzzle towards Whittleton Ranch. The stallion had no tack, indicating that this horse belonged to no one. "Do you have a name?" Link asked. The animal dug his hoof into the ground and shook his dark grey mane.

"I think I'll call you… Dusk." Link decided.

Dusk seemed to love his name. He cantered about, whinnying happily as he did so. Link laughed again at the animal's behavior. Dusk trotted to a patch of buttercups and lay down calmly, folding his legs under his body. He looked expectantly at him. "You want me to ride you?" He asked the horse.

He neighed in response. Link looked around to see if the bokoblins left anything useful behind. He then spotted a patch of the brightest blue of wildflowers. He plucked these, as they were Zelda's favorite flowers.

He hoisted himself upon his new steed's bare back and tucked the flowers into his belt. Dusk reared and galloped towards Hyrule Castle.

* * *

When the pair arrived, Link got off Dusk and told him to stay in the plaza. Link then made for the castle, weaving his way through the bustling crowd of Castle Town. When he finally made it to the castle courtyard, Link had been jostled quite excessively. His foot had been stepped on a total of ten times, and his hat had been knocked off. _Well at least the flowers aren't ruined._ Link thought in relief.

"Link! Link!" A tiny voice said behind him._ Oh, great._ Link thought as he turned around, _more worshippers._ Two young boys ran up to him, a third trudging along behind them. "Link, could you show us that Hurricane Spin again?" One of them asked. The second boy punched the first one and argued, "No! Link's going to teach us how to hold a shield properly!" The third one remained silent, looking down at the grassy ground.

"No! Hurricane Spin!" yelled the first one.

"No! The shield!" shouted the second one.

"Hurricane Spin!"

"Shield!"

"HURRICANE SPIN!"

"SHIELD!"

"Enough!" Link hollered. He lowered his voice once he got the two arguing recruits' attention. "I don't have the energy or the time to do any sword play at all." The two recruits looked glumly at the ground then ran off. The third one remained. Link turned to the small boy and asked, "What is it, Colin?" The boy gestured to the first recruit and said quietly, "I just followed Talo to look cool and to fit in. I don't even want to be here. The sword training scares me. I hate it. My dad signed me up because he said it would build character." The boy didn't even carry a sword.

Link smiled at him. "I understand. I couldn't cope with it when I was your age, either." He knelt down so his face was level with Colin's. "But you know what? Defending Hyrule is a great honor. Not many people get to do that. Now, why don't you go play with the other recruits?" Colin gave him a determined nod and ran off.

Link stood up and walked around the back of the castle to Zelda's personal garden, where she would be tending to her flowers and caring for her little baby bunnies. Sure enough, Zelda was kneeling down near a patch of soil back turned, pulling up carrots and dropping them in a basket beside her, humming as she did so. Her voice was beautiful.

She was wearing her regular dress, which was filthy, and if Impa was here now, she'd be yelling at the Princess for her poor manners. Her hair had dirt in it, and how it got there, Link didn't know. She took no notice of Link's entry, so Link cleared his throat.

Zelda turned at the noise and let out an excited squeal. She ran towards him, grinning from ear to ear, and tackled him with a very un-princess-like bear hug. "It's nice to see you too, Zel." Link said, hugging her back. Zelda noticed that the two of them were on the ground and quickly got up off him.

"Did I do that?" She asked innocently. Link got up and replied, "You are definitely stronger than you look, I'll give you that." Zelda smiled.

Link remembered the flowers that he picked for her, tucked into his belt. "I brought you something, Zel!" Link pulled the flowers from his belt and held them out to her. She gasped. "These are for me? They're lovely!" Zelda then proceeded to plant them. Just then, she froze. "Eek!" She rose quickly and backed away from the now planted flowers.

"What's wrong?" He asked. She pointed to a bright pink tulip, and he stepped toward it. "Zelda, it's just a harmless cricket!" he laughed, picking it up and carrying it to Zelda. It chirped. "But it's a bug." Zelda mentioned. "Well, yeah, it's a bug!" Link teased. He tossed it in her direction, causing her to scream. "Don't _do_ that!" She punched his arm.

Link put his hands up in defeat. Zelda's anger melted. She couldn't stay mad at him. "Are you excited for next week?" He inquired. "Of course I am!" She squealed. After all, who wouldn't be excited for their fourteenth birthday? She had the perfect dress to wear, and she would get to go the entire day without having to do anything responsible and leave the castle to spend it with her best friend.

"Do you want to see the dress?" She asked excitedly. Link grinned and replied, "I think I want to be surprised." Just then, something small and soft nudged his boot and Link looked down. A grey, floppy- eared bunny rabbit was sitting next to his foot. "Archimedes!" Zelda giggled as she picked up the rabbit, its long ears hanging down. Its nose twitched.

"Cute." Link said. Zelda picked up the basket of carrots beside her and fed the bunny one of them. "Isn't he?" Zelda agreed admiringly. She put the rabbit down and it hopped off, its little ears flopping up and down as it went.

On the topic of animals, Link remembered Dusk. "I saved a horse from being hunted by bokoblins a few moments ago." He informed Zelda. She frowned and responded, "Bokoblins? That's troubling. However, the monsters haven't completely disappeared yet. How many did you fight?" Link's battle with the bokoblins flashed across his mind. "Seven." He answered.

"Hmm. Compared to what you've fought before, that's really not that many. However, we should keep an eye on enemy numbers. Any more than ten could cause problems." Zelda paced worriedly. She looked up at Link and asked, "May I see it?" Link nodded and took her hand in his, leading her out of the castle courtyard and into Castle Town.

"I thought Her Highness wasn't permitted to leave the castle." A guard on top of the castle's wall questioned.

A sheikah woman eyed the pair as they disappeared into the bustling crowd. "As long as she has an escort, it's fine." The guard raised his eyebrow. "Very well. I'm still feeling uneasy about it though."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hey guys! Sorry I've been gone so long! I was really busy with school. XI Aaaanyhow, I finally got to my email, and these reviews had me laughing my head off! I'm so glad you guys love my stories. The "fangirling" review on the DTK one was quite funny, if not flattering. (KYAAAAAAAAA) Anyhow AGAIN, thanks for all the great reviews, and thanks for following/favorite-ing me!**_

Link continued leading Zelda by the hand through Castle Town, oblivious to staring eyes and incredulous speech.

"It's the Princess!"

"What's she doing-?"

"-Not allowed outside of the castle!"

Once they arrived to the train station on the outskirts of town, Link helped the princess off the ledge. He turned around, spotting his black stallion grazing in the tall grass ahead. He stepped toward him and petted his mane. "Good boy." Zelda stepped cautiously forward. She had a bad experience with a horse once. One had almost run her over before Link tackled her out of the way.

She slowly reached her hand out to touch Dusk's muzzle. The horse snorted and nuzzled her approaching hand. "He's gorgeous!" She exclaimed quietly. The horse whinnied as if to say, "I like her!" Zelda dropped her hand back to her side. She turned her attention to Link and asked, "How do you know that he doesn't belong to anyone?" Link shrugged and answered, "He wasn't wearing any tack."

Zelda nodded and said, "We'll just have to fix that. Follow me." She started back toward the city. Link clicked his tongue and motioned for the horse to follow. Dusk complied, and they made their way to the castle.

Zelda led Link and his horse to the castle stables. The princess pulled a saddle and bridle off of a hook on the wall. "Put this on…" Link immediately finished her sentence, "Dusk." Zelda smiled. "Dusk. That's a wonderful name!" The horse nickered. Zelda handed Link the saddle and bridle. "You… Do know how to put one on… Right?" Link nodded and slung the saddle over Dusk's back. He bent down and buckled it in place. Then, he strapped the bridle on his muzzle.

"Why don't you saddle up your own horse so we can ride around?" Link suggested, climbing on to Dusk's back. He gently kicked his sides and rode him out of the stables. Zelda came out several minutes later on her brilliant white horse, Wyn. They rode together out of the stables, through Castle Town and into the Forest Realm.

Link and Zelda rode towards the Tower of Spirits. They thought highly of the tower because they used to visit their Lokomo friend, Anjean. Anjean had returned to the heavens because she was no longer needed to protect the tower. They missed her terribly, but it was for the best. They rode past it and to the river beside it. They both got off their horses to let them take a drink.

Link and Zelda lay down in a patch of clover and looked at the clouds. "I wonder what it's like to fly; to be up in the sky without plummeting down. I wonder if there's anything up there." Link said thoughtfully. Zelda turned her head at him. He stared back at her with his deep blue eyes. His golden-blonde hair reflected the sunlight and blew in the soft breeze. He was a knight of high rank, but he still wore the recruit's uniform, as it served sentimental value to the two of them. He still wore the green funnel-shaped hat. She loved that hat... The only thing Link had changed about the uniform was that he now wore a pair of brown leather bracers.

She quickly looked away, playing with her braided pink bracelet,which was her birthday present from Link last year. She then heard him get up, abnormally fast. She sat up. "What is it, Link?"

"What is that…" He was looking at something in the distance. His face showed obvious fear. Zelda jumped up. "What is it?!"

A huge, black maelstrom was looming over the horizon, and crawling ever closer to the two. It appeared to be sucking every single thing into it. Trees were being ripped from the ground, as were the train tracks.

"Hey! I worked hard to bring those back, you Din-forsaken Son of a ReDead!" Link yelled.

"Now is not the time to shout useless curse words, Link." Zelda scorned.

"Right…"

A high-pitched neigh blasted from somewhere to their left. Link looked over.

A blur of white sped past them, suggesting that Zelda's horse just ran away.

Dusk was trying his hardest to follow Wyn, but he was losing energy. And time… The vortex was approaching the stallion at a rapid pace.

"Dusk!" Link shouted.

Dusk's legs trembled and gave out, and he too, was sucked into the gaping hole. He gave one final frightened, screaming neigh, before completely disappearing into the maelstrom.

"NO!" Link cried, starting to run towards the vortex.

"Link, stop!" Zelda grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "He's gone. There isn't anything you can do about it!"

Link stomped his foot, dismayed at the loss of his horse.

"L-Link! We're getting pulled in!" Zelda notified.

"Just hold on!" He wrapped one of his arms around a tree trunk, the other around Zelda's waist. His best friend clung to him as if her very life depended on it. It may very well have.

"Link, I'm scared!" Zelda cried.

"Don't let go!" Link climbed into the tree and held Zelda.

The tree was shaking in its foundation. The vortex was pulling it out of the ground.

"Link!"

"Hang on!"

"I-I can't! It's too strong!"

"Zelda, don't!"

It wasn't Zelda who let go, however. The vortex ripped her from Link and into the gaping hole.

The last thing he heard was his best friend screaming his name, before she disappeared.

"ZELDA!" Link did the craziest thing he could possibly do. He _lept_ into the maelstrom after her.

All he saw was black… Nothing but blackness… Devoid of everything… His head was spinning, spinning, spinning… Then…

It stopped.


End file.
